Two New York-area bishops say The New York Times erred by implying it’s become easier for Catholics to vote for pro-abortion candidates.

In a Sept. 18 article, the newspaper claimed that recent revisions to the U.S. bishops’ statement on “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” would “explicitly allow Catholics to vote for a candidate who supports abortion rights if they do so for other reasons.”

Not true, Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre and Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn stated in a letter published today by the newspaper.

“Actually, the bishops said candidates who promote fundamental moral evils such as abortion are cooperating in a grave evil, and Catholics may never vote for them to advance those evils,” the two bishops wrote.

They noted that the “Faithful Citizenship” document states a Catholic can support a pro-abortion candidate “only for truly grave moral reasons, not to advance narrow interests or partisan preferences or to ignore a fundamental moral evil.”

Warned Bishop Murphy and Bishop DiMarzio, “This standard of ‘grave moral reasons’ is a very high standard to meet.”